Saturated fat

My take on saturated fat is that it's good for you. yes, it raises cholesterol but, it raises HDL more than LDL. If you even care about cholesterol, which I know many of you dont.

I found this though, and maybe I am reading it wrong but, it sounds like saturated fats with a high fat diet causes inflammation (which we are all here to avoid). Maybe someone can help me out with this.

Trans Fat, Saturated Fat And Inflammation

Studies have shown that diets high in trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids can have pro-inflammatory effects. Trans fatty acids, in particular, have been shown to increase CRP, IL-6, and TNFa. It is important to note, however, that neither of these fats had a very strong inflammatory effect when consumed in a low to moderate fat diet. This suggests that it is the level of fat in an individual's diet which influences the pro and anti-inflammatory effects of trans and saturated fatty acids, causing them to be more inflammatory than normal when consumed in high amounts.

Foods which are high in trans fatty acids are cooked with hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oil. These include many processed foods, such as cookies, crackers, and chips. The safest way to identify foods which contain trans fats is to look at the ingredient list. If you see the word "hydrogenated", the food contains at least some trans fat. Due to labeling law, a food is allowed to advertise itself as "Trans Fat Free" if it contains less than .5 grams per serving, so the only way to be sure something is really trans fat free is to look at the ingredient list. Trans fat should be completely avoided for health reasons which do not deal directly with inflammation.

Foods which are high in saturated fatty acids are primarily animal products, mostly grain-fed animals. Grain-fed meat is also higher in a few other pro-inflammatory compounds, and lower in anti-inflammatory ones, so if reducing inflammation is a goal, look for grass-fed or pastured meat.

Certain plant oils, such as coconut and palm oil, are also high in saturated fatty acids, but it is important to note that both unrefined coconut and palm oils also have strong anti-inflammatory compounds as well.

Also remember that the strongest link to inflammation through saturated fats is the total amount of fat consumed in a day. Saturated fat, by itself, is not necessarily pro-inflammatory, and when consumed in whole, unprocessed food, is likely packaged with a number of anti-inflammatory compounds as well

Post the links to the peer reviewed studies that show that high intakes of saturated fat are inflammatory and I'll have a look. Note that not discriminating between trans fat and saturated fat is a red flag here

Four years Primal with influences from Jaminet & Shanahan and a focus on being anti-inflammatory. Using Primal to treat CVD and prevent stents from blocking free of drugs.

Post the links to the peer reviewed studies that show that high intakes of saturated fat are inflammatory and I'll have a look. Note that not discriminating between trans fat and saturated fat is a red flag here

Yeah....this.

Plus I read the part that states all spices and herbs contain many anti-inflammatory compounds. Guess what I season my food with! Bwahaha

"Because a high-fat diet (59% fat) has also been shown to promote inflammation in healthy and type 2 diabetic patients,13 the level of dietary fat may influence the pro-inflammatory actions of saturated or trans fatty acids, which, in turn, may exert differential effects on acute phase proteins and inflammatory cytokines."

" Limited studies have shown that certain dietary factors; oleic acid, α-linolenic acid, and antioxidants Rxc vbRR-α-alpha tocopherol, reduce biomarkers of inflammation. Most of the studies with fish oil supplementation have shown null effects, and conflicting results have been reported with saturated and trans fatty acids, cholesterol, and soy intake. Much further research is needed to define the role of individual dietary factors on the biomarkers of inflammation and the mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effects of weight loss. "

In the main body there is only this one tidbit damning a high fat diet as Tim shows:

"Because a high-fat diet (59% fat) has also been shown to promote inflammation in healthy and type 2 diabetic patients,13 the level of dietary fat may influence the pro-inflammatory actions of saturated or trans fatty acids, which, in turn, may exert differential effects on acute phase proteins and inflammatory cytokines."

So you now have to track down study cited 13, because we have an article written based on a review.....so here is that:

"To compare the effect of a high-fat meal and a high-carbohydrate meal (pizza), with and without antioxidant vitamins, on endothelial activation in healthy subjects and in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus."

How the hell you can extrapolate that to high fat diets cause inflammation is beyond me. All they show is in 20 type two diabetics and 20 "healthy" people eating pizza they couldn't reverse all the damage of that meal just by popping some vitamin E and C. Ground breaking stuff. If your gonna write an article on this it should just be titled: "Pizza is bad for you even if you take your vitamins".

I know saturated fat is good for me because of what it has done for my health. The studies that say it isn't are flawed. It's not the saturated fat that's inflammatory ...it's the shit they feed the cow or the hormones they give it. That's why quality of the meat we choose to eat is important.

Saturated fat raises cholesterol? What kind? The good kind if you are eating a Primal diet. We need to have a higher level of cholesterol than what the current level is set at (200 or 230... whatever it is). Plus you have to look at the individual levels of different types of cholesterol. That low # is set by pharmaceutical companies (as I understand) which works in their favor ... they have doctors prescribing massive amounts of statins. It's all about money.

Neckhammer, I included a link to the full study in my post, and it contains some relevant information that isn't included in your link.

"Following this, subjects and diabetic patients ate, in random order and separated by a week interval, the following meals: 1) a high-fat meal; 2) an isoenergetic high-carbohydrate meal (pizza); and 3) the same meals following oral ingestion of antioxidant vitamin E (800 IU) and ascorbic acid (1,000 mg). The total energy content of the high-fat meal was 760 Kcal (3,180 J), with 58 g of carbohydrate, 50 g of fat, 20.4 g of saturated fat, 246 mg of cholesterol, 2.8 g of fiber and a total of 59.2 energy (%) from fat, 12.3 E% from protein and 28.5 E% from carbohydrates. It consisted of two sausages (80 g), six bread slices (90 g), a small egg (40 g), butter (15 g) and olive oil (5 g). The isoenergetic meal consisted of a pizza (300 g) with tomatoes (60 g), 144 g of carbohydrate, 17 g of fat, 2.2 g of saturated fat, no cholesterol, 4.5 g of fiber, with a total of 6.5 E% from protein, 20.6 E% from fat and 72.9 E% from carbohydrates."

"Unlike the high-fat meal, the pizza meal does not activate endothelium in normal subjects. Although acute and postprandial hyperglycemia are increasingly being seen as toxic for endothelial functions (23- 24), the glycemic excursions following the pizza meal in normal subjects were very small and had returned to basal levels at the time of testing. This did not happen in type 2 diabetic patients in whom plasma glucose levels remained elevated 4 h after ingestion of the pizza meal. In this condition, circulating levels of cytokines and adhesion molecules were significantly elevated above baseline, with a direct relationship with blood glucose levels. Moreover, the diabetic patients who ate the high-fat meal presented with the greatest endothelial activation, as indicated by the highest circulating levels of TNF-α, IL-6, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1."

"The results from this study indicate that a high-fat meal in healthy subjects is able to switch the endothelium towards a more atherogenetic profile, which is amplified in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The pizza meal causes endothelial activation in diabetic subjects only, although to a lesser extent than the high-fat meal does. Endothelial activation is prevented by antioxidant vitamins, suggesting an oxidative mechanism mediated by post-meal hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia. The lack of endothelial activation after the pizza meal, at least in nondiabetic subjects, may contribute to the healthier cardiovascular outlook of people consuming a Mediterranean-type diet"

The pizza meal had less of a negative effect, and vitamin supplementation reduced the effect. The meals differed most in their fat and carbohydrate content, and both meals contained wheat. Bread and pizza dough are made out of the same thing, obviously, so you can't blame the wheat for the difference.

Nothing wrong with that and I wasn't shooting for some epic debunking of Denise Minger proportions.

Really just pointing out that once you track to the source you can see how the data is both diluted and sensationalized a bit more at each step from the primary research -> research review -> random web article. Its just kind of fun to trace this stuff back once in a while.

I provided the links, and your right I couldn't find the full text so thanks for sharing..... wasn't intentionally leaving anything out. Make what you will of the data from that primary study. I just don't find it too useful. I'll admit that when I skimmed it and found "pizza" and such my brain turned the confounding factors switch on and I didn't read the rest very closely.